they're playing political games with the debt ceiling. and that undermines certainty. yesterday, economist simon johnson of m.i.t. testified before our committee saying that a short-term increase would only extend uncertainty he said, i quote, you will continue to undermine the private sector, you will continue to delay investment and reduce employment relative to what it would be otherwise. let's for a second remember history. the last time the house republicans played political games with the debt ceiling, august 20 11, our economy produced the lowest job growth in three years. during that two-month period, the dow jones plummeted 2,000 points including one of its worst single day drops in history, 635 points on, on august 8. s&p downgrade the u.s. credit rating for the first time in history. leading republicans in june, 2011, criticized the notion of a short-term debt ceiling increase as providing a lack of certainty. the majority leader said, i quote, we feel very strongly that one of the reasons we continue to see an ailing economy is that people have very little